Industry News

1、 Market demand and trade trends
Demand fluctuations and short-term recovery
Downward pressure on prices: Starting from March 2025, Russian steel prices will continue to decline, with a drop of 0.4% -2%, and it is expected to expand to 3% -5% in the future.
Partial rebound: The stocking up during the peak season for suburban construction has driven a short-term rebound in steel prices (April 2025), but this trend has been deemed a temporary phenomenon.
Medium - to long-term contraction: Steel demand is expected to decrease by 11% year-on-year to 10 million tons in the fourth quarter of 2024, with rising financing costs suppressing terminal demand.
China's export driven market
Leading market share: China's light steel keel has a market share of over 40% in Kazakhstan, and the market share of intelligent locks (related building materials) has reached 35%.
Rapid increase in export volume: China's steel exports to Russia will increase by over 50% year-on-year in 2023; In the first ten months of 2024, the total export volume of steel in China reached 91.89 million tons (+23.3% year-on-year), reaching an 8-year high.
Cost advantage: The average export price of Chinese steel has decreased by 18.7% year-on-year (2024), and the low price strategy has enhanced competitiveness.
2. Application Scenarios and Policy Drivers
Core application areas
Construction of affordable housing: Russia's 250 billion dollar affordable housing project clearly adopts light steel keel structure, focusing on row villas and new types of walls.
Infrastructure expansion: The growth of infrastructure investment in Central Asia drives demand, and light steel keel is suitable for complex geological conditions (such as Kazakhstan).
Policy and standard upgrade
New fire prevention regulations: Russia will implement GOST 30244-2024/2025 building materials fire prevention standards by 2025, requiring dynamic combustion testing and digital labeling. Chinese export products must be compatible with G1-G4 fire protection levels.
Chinese standard synchronization: The new national standard for "Light Steel Keels for Construction" (GB/T 11981-2024) in China will come into effect in May 2025, promoting the standardization of export products.
3、 Challenges and Opportunities
Main risks
Economic pressure: The Russian central bank's interest rate hike has led to an increase in financing costs, suppressing construction investment; The IMF predicts that Russia's GDP growth rate will decrease to 1.5% in 2025 (3.2% in 2024).
Supply chain restructuring: After Western companies exit, Russia accelerates the substitution of local supply chains, and China needs to cope with the pressure of capacity transfer.
Growth opportunities
Filling the market gap: The exit of Western brands has shifted the Russian hardware market to China, and building materials exhibitions such as Mosbuild have attracted over 800 Chinese exhibitors.
Green building policy: Russia promotes the application of energy-saving building materials, and light steel joists are favored by policies due to their environmental characteristics (100% recyclable).